Ode To Obits...

It seems a strange transition from Betty White to this... But this thought occurred to me today, so I thought I'd share.

I love obits (not pictured, well...)

When I open up my newspaper, I immediately go to sports.

I then go to living arts and the front page.

But, if I really want to luxuriate, and enjoy my paper, I'll go to the obituary page.
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Just think about the task of writing an obit.

Your job is encapsulate a person's entire life, in just a few paragraphs.

What a monumental task.

There are DAYS which I live which I think can't be summarized in just a few paragraphs.
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What I really like about obits is this...

In death, a good obit brings the person back to life.

When someone REALLY old dies, who was likely before my time, reading their obituary gives me a chance to discover their work.

It's so ironic.
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Facebook has changed obits in strange ways.

Now it's a race to throw up the RIP on your page for a famous person.

The sooner you throw it up, the more you liked the person and thus, the cooler you are.

I'm guilty of this.

I think the most famous 'collective death' in recent memory was Michael Jackson's.

And for many people, it brought back music of their childhood.

I remember going to a bar in downtown Miami and they had a big projection screen showing videos from "Thriller."

But that was the easy obit to write.

Everyone had that experience.

The more obscure ones are fun for me.

I know morbid, but true.

And what better way to cross the 5-thousand hit marker than by writing about death.

If you need happier thoughts, just go throw on some Justin Bieber.